My Art To-do List

I wanted to create another drawing using the symbols of fall through my European and American Traditions. This winter I am going to do more Celtic designs as well. I've wanted to explore Celtic art for a long time. I am figuring out my lineup for this winters art and finishing up my October art list.

The Skull

European legends the human skill is regarded on a par with the vault of Heaven. In the Icelandic Grimnismal, the skull of the giant Ymir becomes the vault of Heaven after his death and similarly, in the Rig-Veda, the vault of heaven was fashioned from the skull of the first man, in fact establishes as parallel between the sacred position on the level of the social strata, like archetypes of the highborn, and the natural world, creating a sacred space of mountains and of sky, and the human entirety of being.

Skulls have been a symbol of worship across our world, from ancestor worship, rights and rituals, to prizes taken in battle. The skull connects us to the natural world and and the heaven's of gods, to enlightenment of the human mind.

The Tree

The Tree has an even richer history of symbolic motifs compared to the skull. The tree represents the symbol of life and the mind, continually ever rising and reaching for heaven. They also represent the cycle of life, death, and regeneration. Trees are used to connect the three levels of the cosmos from the underworld through their roots buried deep in the soil and earth surface with their trunk and branches reaching for the sky or the heavens.

The Celts believed in a cosmic tree which was the oak, the axis, the center of our world, the center of the cosmos. The German's sacred tree was the lime or linden, the Scandinavians the ash. Eastern Islam used the olive tree and the people of Siberia the larch and the birch. The cosmological tree represented the path between heaven and earth.

As this picture progresses I will continue to write about the tree and the skull, both so rich in myth and symbolism I could fill a library. Makes me feel very tired thinking about writing that much since I would rather paint a picture than use words to describe my ideas.

Continuing With My Fall Theme

The month of October has been dedicated to everything dealing with the Northern peoples experience with fall. The time of harvest, the death of plants, remembering our ancestors, the doorway to wintertime, hibernation, and the deep deathly cold of the northern winters.

16 x 14 inches, pen and ink, on 190lb cotton watercolor paper

Symbolism Of The Skull

Trees In Mythology

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